E3 2016 Post-Mortem Part 3: Final Thoughts and Summary

E3 2016 had a tough act to follow; after 2015 created an explosion of excitement, there was no way this year could match up to it. With that said, the press conferences were done to a much better level of quality and there were still a fair few games which kept things moving along. Exclusive content and mobile games, two major issues I had with the event last year were mostly cut out as well, letting the games make their impact. I’ll no doubt be streaming the show again next year.

Positive takeaways

• Most of the conferences were far better paced than previous years, cutting down on the filler material that slowed them to a crawl. EA’s conference was still the weakest of all the conferences this year, but they were still able to remove much of the boring talk on sports games among other components. 

• Variety was a great strength of all the conferences this year; pre-show talks and post-show discussions populated E3 2016 this year, giving the community a more down-to-earth set of material to take on-board. Bethesda including talks with developers, EA had a fully-fledged match of Battlefield 1, Ubisoft had discussions on both ends and Sony turned their entire conference into a more cinematic kind of experience. It was a welcomed that made the common corporate rhetoric more bearable.

Negative takeaways

• The gaming industry is changing from a business standpoint and nowhere was that more evident than at Microsoft’s conference. Their focus on putting games on both Xbox One and PC could seriously hamper the corporation’s gaming console by blending the two platforms together. It also speaks of the gaming industry as a whole. The rumours concerning the death of consoles may slowly be coming true; Nintendo’s future in the console business remains in question and Sony doesn’t exactly have a foot in the PC market. If these two companies go the route of Sega, there will be no competition for Microsoft and that often results in even more unethical business practices.

• The excitement wasn’t able to reach its highest level this year because companies made the decision to leave some major titles out; I’ve discussed many of these in the previous part of my E3 post mortem. Despite the announcement of new titles and the slow progression of virtual reality, there was still some disappointment to be had with several key absences, the biggest of which being Final Fantasy VII Remake and Crackdown 3.

Winners and Losers (My personal awards)

Best Conference: Sony

Most improved of the big companies: EA

Least progressive of the big companies: Nintendo

Most disappointing: Mass Effect Andromeda at the EA press conference

Biggest reveals and cheers: Sony

Biggest surprise: Call of Duty Infinite Warfare single player demo

Most awkward moment: Just Dance opening Ubisoft’s Press Conference

Strongest Return: Prey

Missing in action: Final Fantasy VII Remake (Among many others)

Game of the show: Horizon Zero Dawn

Honourable Mentions: We Happy Few, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Dishonored 2, God of War, South Park: The Fractured But Whole